Will miss 2 games at Women’s Worlds

Anna Shokhina of the Olympic Athletes from Russia women’s ice hockey team was suspended two games due to a kicking infraction in the bronze medal game.

The violation of IIHF Official Playing Rule #152 (Kicking) happened after the end of the bronze medal game against Finland. Immediately after the final buzzer at 60:00 Finnish player Minnamari Tuominen skated away from Shokhina toward her goal when Shokhina made a swinging motion with her right foot directed to Tuominen’s foot and leg area.

The Disciplinary Panel determined that her swinging motion was a direct kicking motion and while she probably did not intend to injure her opponent, the evidence establishes she did intend to kick her, leading to the rule violation. Shokhina was assessed a match penalty for the incident by the on-ice officials.

The Disciplinary Panel determined that Shokhina shall be sanctioned with a suspension of two games being the first two games of her team at the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship.